sonotadream

For a bit of backstory, Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1940 to be an explicit anti-Nazi, pro-intervention in WWII figure (and because editor Martin Goodman wanted a superhero to rival Superman). He quickly become Timely Comics most popular character. His popularity declined after the war and he was pretty much out of print until Stan Lee (whose first writer job had been with a Captain America story) decided to bring him back - in Stranger Tales #118, as a fake out.

That story seemed to be popular enough, and Captain America returned for real in Avengers #4.

Avengers (1963) #4 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

We catch up with Namor after his fight with the Avengers - wandering the ocean, still looking for his people and swearing war on humanity.

He ends up in the Arctic, where he finds an Inuit tribe worshipping a figure trapped in a block of ice - not a lot of cultural sensitivity in display here. Namor takes his anger out on the tribe and hurls the block of ice into the sea.

The current drags it South and the ice starts melting, revealing a human man. It comes across the Avengers submarine and they pull him aboard, where everyone recognizes the figure as Captain America, who has been missing since the end of the war.

Journey into Mystery (1952) - #97-100 - Stan Lee/Don Heck/Jack Kirby

Checking this series again, since there’s a bit of a creative overhaul with Stan Lee taking over the writing.

These stories don't feel very different from the earlier ones, imo. Thor/Dr. Donald Blake has to fight a new villain, while getting involved in some not-very-fun secret identity shenanigans due to his relationship with Jane Foster.

Let's start with the villains.

Lava Man is the result of a prank Loki played on the mortals by re-activating a dormant volcano. He wants to take over the surface world because humanity is to weak to face him.

Klaus Vorhees was working as a lab assistant to a doctor working on an anti-snake bite serum when he decided to turn on him. Vorhees stages an accident where they both get bitten by a snake, but only he manages to get the antidote on time. Unfortunately, the snake was radioactive and the interaction of the radiation and the antidote gives him abilities similar to those of a snake and he becomes Cobra. He plans to create an army of snakes under his command and take over the world.

Lastly, there's Mr. Hyde. Formerly know as Calvin Zabo, he does not plan on taking over the world (yet), he wants to get revenge on Donald Blake for not hiring him. Of course, the only reason he wanted to work with Blake was to rob him, a thing he was notorious for - although it's unclear if he's stealing money or research from his employers.

Inspired by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he creates a serum that turns him into Mr. Hyde - a creature controlled only by its most base instincts - which are evil, of course. He uses the Hyde persona as an alibi - Hyde commits the crimes and Zabo gets to walk free.

The Don/Jane/(Thor) relationship manages to be more juicy, although the love triangle angle was toned down. Don wants to declare his love for Jane - a thing she’s very receptive to - but Odin has forbidden Thor from ever marrying a mortal. Jane ends up leaving Don to work for a different doctor when he proves unable to declare his love. She returns when the other doctor proves to be a coward under a hostage situation.

Thor keeps pleading with his father to allow him to marry Jane and Odin grants him a bit of hope, saying if Jane proves herself to be worthy, he will grant her immortality. Thor’s hopes are dashed when Jane proves unworthy from Odin’s point of view. See, Hyde took Don and Jane hostage and left Don tied up in his castle next to a bomb while he dragged Jane away. Thinking Hyde is the only one capable of disarming the bomb, Jane tries to prevent Thor from stopping Hyde, which is what Odin witness.

These issues also include the Tales of Asgard backups, or Lee and Kirby retell the Norse myths. I don’t know enough about Norse mythology to tell if they’re accurate or not, but there’s fun stuff here. Odin defeats the ice giants by trapping them underground; Surtur - a fire demon - escapes Asgard and crashes into the Earth, creating the Moon (plausible); kid Loki betrays kid!Thor hoping to gain Odin’s favour, but it backfires.

Still not feeling this series, but Kirby becomes the artist next issue, so I’ll check a few more.